Month: December 2016

Imagine a wild animal lured to a baited foothold trap. The trap springs, catching the unsuspecting creature by the paw. Imagine–it isn’t difficult–the fear and pain; the thrashing attempts to free the firmly-clamped foot.

Now imagine people gathering to watch the terrified animal attempting to free himself. Guns–constant companions in this part of the world–are produced and shots are fired. The animal is hit but not down; a circle of pink forms in the snow, the trap’s anchor chain at its center. Pictures are taken; pictures are posted.

When the location is the Northern Rockies and the animal is a wolf, this scenario is not only feasible, it actually happens. This time it was in Idaho.

One dog too many

Anti-trapping sentiment picked up steam in the Missoula, MT area when, in 2007, a beloved border collie-cross died in an illegally-set body-grip beaver trap at a popular Forest Service recreation site. Cupcake, the dog, died in the arms of his frantic, anguished human.

Cupcake’s story was one too many for local activists weary of the way trapping flew under the radar, a mostly-hidden pursuit enabled by trappers at the state management agency, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Traps littering public landscapes were not only catching, injuring, and sometimes killing companion animals, they were causing untold suffering and death for wild species–both intended and unintended (“non-target”) victims. Adding insult to injury, trappers pocket cash for the skin and fur of native wildlife dwelling on America’s public lands.

Cupcake’s terrible death drew grassroots activists together and Footloose Montana (Promoting trap-free public lands for people, pets, and wildlife) was born. Footloose came amazingly close–for a first-time attempt–to qualifying an anti-trapping ballot initiative in 2010, falling 1500 statewide signatures short (over 31,000 were gathered). Incidents like the one described above–a stark illustration of the cruelty inherent in trapping–only steel the commitment to try again.

Death Threat

After posting the wolf torture picture–copied from a trapping forum–on their Facebook page, Footloose personnel received this message:

Authorities–including the FBI–have been notified.

I should add that wolf-hater hysteria continues with at least one Republican candidate for Montana governor calling for a wolf trapping season (currently not legal). A population of 650-700 wolves is apparently too many for the fourth largest state–a state whose human population is ranked 44th with a scant one million.

Candidate Rick Hill worries that exceeding a wolf “tipping point” will cause irreparable harm. Says he: “The consequences of this are going to be a really poor hunting season this year…”
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To read a full account of the Idaho wolf incident (including the trapper’s forum comments and photos), visit the Earth Island Journal. To support Footloose Montana in any way you can, visit their website or Facebook page.

This post first appeared on animal law blog Animal Blawg, where comments are accepted.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: To prove to the possum it could be done.

“Flat meat.” “Highway pizza.” “Pavement pancakes.” What most of us know as roadkill–often the butt of joke menus (“You kill it–we grill it”) and other hilarity–was once a sentient animal who just wanted to get from here to there. Isn’t that really what all us want? Simply to get on with the business of living our lives? But for our wild brothers and sisters, the road to survival often ends with, well, the road.

It’s bad enough that our constructed, manipulated, domesticated world is layered on top of what was once their home, resulting in ever-increasing loss of habitat. But then we throw insurmountable odds at them: Yeah, that interstate consumed considerable habitat, but it also fragmented what it didn’t consume. Good luck gettin’ across, li’l buddies! “One of the prominent effects of this type of destruction,” according to scientist and editor (The Encyclopedia of Earth) Dr. C. Michael Hogan, “is the habitat fragmentation effects of long linear projects, especially roadways that create permanent barriers to habitat continuity.”

So human activity–logging, agriculture, resource extraction, urban and residential construction, and all the infrastructure that supports these activities (roads! pipelines! more roads!)–voraciously consumes and fragments habitat, making life untenable for wild individuals and sometimes entire species. And then there are the humans themselves. Imagine the turtle making slow, steady progress across the roadway–he’s crossed the centerline…he’s on the shoulder now…the grass is only two feet away–when Joe Psychopath intentionally swerves to hit him (research & video).

“Most people don’t realize how many animals die on the road every day — they just don’t see it,” said a volunteer for the California Roadkill Observation System, “the first statewide effort to map roadkill using citizen observers,” according to “Mapping Traffic’s Toll on Wildlife” (New York Times):

A new, $2.75 million interstate crossing for mule deer on the Utah-Nevada border made the news in early September–the decision to build it “based on a cost-benefit analysis that looked at human fatalities and damage done to cars.” OK, so humans are only looking out for Number One, but deer–who experience far more fatalities in collisions–benefit, too.

Bumper sticker: “PRAY FOR ME, I DRIVE HWY. 93”

Move to west-central Montana and it doesn’t take long to figure out that roadways here are dangerous. Speed limits are too high, shoulders on winding, two-lane highways are sometimes nonexistent, grass and foliage grow tall, and rural nights are dark. And then there’s Montana’s renowned wildlife and drunk drivers!

But there’s good news: US Highway 93 South now features 19 successful wildlife crossings in a 25 mile stretch through the Bitterroot Valley. Research findings (still ongoing, 2008 to 2015) based on motion sensor camera data reveal a high success rate for animals using the crossings over varying periods of time. We’re talking a 98% rate for deer and turkeys choosing to use one crossing during a 600-day timespan (success is defined as those who use the crossing as opposed to those repelled by or moving parallel to the crossing. Find an easily-accessible PowerPoint with photos here, and full, third quarter research results here.)

The People’s Way and the Animals’ Bridge

We recently headed out on a day trip north of Missoula, traveling US 93 North toward Arlee, MT on the Flathead Indian Reservation. I knew we would pass under the Animals’ Bridge on this stretch of the People’s Way, and hoped for a photo despite the narrow shoulder and dicey parking situation.

Reconstruction of the 56-mile stretch of US 93 north of I-90 represents many groups and governments that came together to improve the dangerous route. While the road moves people in vehicles, simultaneously moving on land around and across the road are grizzly and black bears, deer, elk, moose, pronghorn antelopes, painted turtles, skunks, rabbits, otters, birds, and many others (click through a slideshowhere–don’t miss the amazing photos of an owl flying through a culvert crossing!).

I managed to get my photo of the Animals’ Bridge as cars whizzed by a little too close on the busy two lanes. It was easy to appreciate the planning, time, and expense that went into the beautiful crossing, and especially gratifying to know that saving animal lives wasn’t merely a side benefit to saving human lives and property, but was intended from the get-go. “What if YOU were the animal?” asked one compassionate child who entered a poster in the Safe Passages for Wildlife art contest sponsored by the People’s Way Project (see all entries & winners here).

Slide show-click image

That child’s empathy is echoed in the words of a resident who lives near one of the People’s Way crossings: “This is a bear crossing, and there’s a couple but this one seems to be the one that’s most active. I’ve had four bears through here and what people need to know is this is their territory, it’s not ours. I mean if you want to live in the woods you gotta take the animals with it, it’s part of living here.” ~Animal crossing structures saving lives in Western MT
________________________________________________________________Further resources:
*People’s Way Partnership on Facebook
*People’s Way FAQs, MT DoT; all animal photos
*Research on Highway 93 wildlife crossings nearly complete – Missoulian, 6/20/13 (click on pictures for slideshow)
*Post-construction wildlife crossing structure monitoring – here
*”Wildlife use of…crossing structures on US 93 North in MT” video (embedded below)

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